Image source: Socitm
Interview: David Bryant and David Ogden talk about the society’s plans to become a charity, set up an institute and prepare for long term evolution
A new shape is developing for the Society of Innovation, Technology and Modernisation (Socitm), although it will take time before we all know exactly what it looks like.
Its plans became public earlier this month when it revealed that it intends to become a charity, rather than the limited company that operates on a not-for-profit basis at present, and formally launch the Socitm Inspire institute at its President’s Conference on 13 June.
The consultancy service Socitm Advisory will remain as part of a three-pillar structure, and rough plans are in place for a series of enablers for go-to-market services and the market liaison and governance.
Finance and commercial director David Bryant and engagement director David Ogden say the move is part of an evolution that reflects the strengthening of its position over recent years.
Membership change
Known widely as the national association for public sector IT, it changed its membership focus from individuals to organisations a few years ago, now having around 250 local authorities signed up, and has placed itself in a stronger legal position than for previous efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to become a charity.
“It was basically because it was all done by volunteers and no-one had the relevant knowledge,” Bryant says. “This time we’ve done it properly with the right legal advice and expect the application will be successful.
“The reasons we want to become a charity now are that, if you are not making a profit and expending the money back in you’re not having to pay corporation tax, and that it gives us access to grant funding not available to a commercial organisation.
“And one of the reasons for being an institute is to provide a broader church of advice to non-members and other public sector bodies, and to do that you need another source of funding rather than just membership income.”
The organisation will retain the Socitm name, albeit without the Ltd, and brand the institute as Inspire, moving all of its services in areas such as leadership development, research and benchmarking under its umbrella, from which they can be taken to market.
It will meanwhile retain its membership packages that will include components from the institute.
Services split
“We have membership functions like events and regional meetings that will be a component solely for the membership, and all the other services will ultimately be part of the institute,” Bryant says, adding: “All the staff will be employed by the charity, and will be doing work for both the institute and the members in certain areas.”
There are also plans to extend the range of services and projects on offer, with discussions taking place but no details currently in the public realm. Ogden says this is part of a phased approach to the change.
“That’s why we are where we are now in terms of going for charitable status,” says. “It’s intrinsically linked to what we can offer and allows us to bid for research and development funds that take us into a different avenue.
“We’re involved in lots of conversations with many key stakeholders – government departments, other not-for-profits and membership organisations in different sectors. They may or may not come off in offering us different avenues, but the ambition is to do that, get into different areas and sectors to provide that community of practice.”
Building relationships
These conversations involve building relationships with the research departments of around a dozen universities, which Bryant says have the potential to become more formalised in the future.
Ogden adds that some services could be ready from day one but more details will continue to emerge after the formal launch. In addition, Socitm is currently taking feedback from its members on the plan.
It leads him to state: “What’s really important is this is the journey, and when it formally launches our entire offer will not be defined then. We have the ambition to grow and develop the service and this will be the start.”
